Spray flatiron



Nov. 20, 1956 s. w. HOLMBERG SPRAY FLATIRON INVENTOR. STA/WON w Ham/B529cu v 10 m Filed July 19, 1954 United States Patent '0 SPRAY FLATIRONStanton W. Holmberg, Minneapolis, Minn., assignor to General Mills,Inc., a corporation of Delaware Application July 19, 1%4, Serial No.444,154

8 Claims. (Cl. 3878) The present invention relates to improvements infiatirons and more particularly to a combination flatiron and pressingiron which is provided with a spraying device which may be used to addmoisture to the material pressed.

In ironing equipment, combination steam and dry irons have become wellknown to the art. These combination irons avail the housewife of an ironwhich may be used as a conventional flatiron for ironing dry orsprinkled materials or which may be alternately used as a "steam ironfor pressing. When the combination iron is to be used as a steam ironmeans are provided whereby steam is directed at the material. This steamis usually generated within the flatiron by water furnished from areservoir carried on the iron with the water usually being heated by theheating element which heats the sole .plate or in some instances by aseparate heating element.

Steam is used for ironing because damping or wetting the material .makespressing much easier and causes the material to retain its pressedcondition for a longer period of time. Thus in a steam iron it is thecondensation of the steam against the cool material which causes it tobe dampened and the steam is merely used as a vehicle 'to carry themoisture to the materia'land to dis tribute the moisture thoroughly inthe material.

When considering that converting water into steam requires :a largeamount of heat often requiring the provision of larger heating elementsthan usually would be necessary, it will be realized that if theintermediate step of generating steam could be avoided a saving would berealized. The waste of this step becomes apparent when quired to merelydampen the material, these devices frequently get the material too wetor deposit the water in large droplets which may stain the material andwhich are hard to evaporate. Detergents or other agents are sometimesused to cause droplets of moisture to penetrate the material but thisalso has disadvantages. Since the users attention andefforts are fullyrequired by the ironing procedure, these devices are diflicult to useand their drawbacks areapparent.

It is accordingly an objective of the present invention to provide a,flatiron which may be optionally used as either a dry iron.Ol'PIBSSll'lglI'Ol'l and which when used as a pressing iron .dampensthe material uniformly and evenly without an excess. of moisture andwhich does not require heat to turn the moistened water into steam forcarrying the moisture into the material.

Another objective of the invention is to provide a pressing iron whichis capable of evenly dampening material for pressing and which does notdeposit water in droplets or require the addition of agents or thepassage of time for the water to evenly penetrate the material.

' Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic spray ironwhich has a built in spray nozzle on the front of the iron to'tdire'ct afine mist at the material and in which the amount of moisture can becontrolled to .cause the proper amount of dampening and which is simple,efficient, and easy to use.

Other objects and advantages will become more apparent inthe followingspecification taken in connectio with the appended drawings .in which:

Figure l is :a-sideview of the iron through which a vertical section hasbeen taken; and,

Fig. 2 :is a plan view'illustrating the details of the frontrend of thehandle and'the adjustment knob.

With'reference ;to'-Fig. 1,"the iron embodying the teaturles of thepresent invention is shown as having certain conventional elementsincluding a sole plate 10 provided with-an embedded electric heatingelement 12 which need not be shown in detail. Surmounting this soleplate is an upper shell 14. Secured to the top of the shell is thehandle 16 and this contains an opening at its rear face to realizingthat the steam has to again condense to be useful I y for moistening thematerial. Other disadvantages accompany the production of steam such asthe difficulty of maintaining a uniform sole platetemperature, mineraldeposits left by evaporating water, etc.

For some purposes it is a practice to sprinkle the material to be ironedeither manually or by the useof a spray head or a similar device. Suchsprinkling suffers the disadvantage that it is often non-uniform and thelarge droplets of water produced by sprinkling concentrate the moistureon small areas of the material which are diflicult to dry by the heat ofthe iron passing over them. A method of avoiding these concentrations ofmoisture is by rolling up the material so that the moisture willdistribute itself. This, of course, is accompanied with admit theelectrical supply cord '18.

Running from the supply cord are electrical leads 20 and 21. Lead 20connects to a terminal 22 for the sole plate electrical heating elementand lead 21 connects to the control thermostat 24. A lead 26 betweenthisthermostat and another heating element terminal 28 completes theelectrical circuit to the heating element.

The thermostat 24 is mounted on the sole plate 10 and is adjusted by ashaft 30 extending upwardly through the shell 14. A knob 32 is'mountedat the top end of the shaft for manual control of the thermostat. Asleeve '34 surrounds the adjustment shaft to seal it from the Waterofthe reservoir 38 which is enclosed by part of the shell 14.

The reservoir carries the supply ofwater or other fluid which is to bedistributed overthe material being ironed in 'a fine spray. The shell'14 has a rounded top formed of sheet metal or the like and has a bottomplate 40 sealing the top shell to form the reservoir 38. For filling thereservoir a filling opening 39 is provided and a filling cap 41 threadsinto the opening to close it during operation. A vent '43 is provided'inthe cap to admit air as water is sprayed from the tank.

The shell is supplied with small projections or spacer feet 42 whichextend downwardly from the shell and space it from the sole plate 10which prevents the shell and the water in the reservoir from beingdirectly heated by cont-act with'the sole plate. The shell is secured tothe sole plate by bolts '44 and '46 whichextend through holes in'theforward and rear end respectively of the bottom 3 plate 40 and arethreaded into the sole plate. A seal is provided at the hole throughwhich the front bolt 44 extends to prevent water from leaking from thereservoir.

It will be seen that the Water tank is spaced from the sole plate sothat the water of the reservoir tank does not have an excessive coolingeffect on the sole plate to make it diflicult to heat and to regulate.The heat which radiates upwardly from the sole plate, however, isreceived by the reservoir and is utilized to warm the water therein.

A nozzle 48 is mounted on the front end of the shell 14 and is pointeddownwardly for purposes of supplying the fine spray which is directedagainst the material being ironed. The nozzle consists of a housing 50which is mounted on the shell 14 in an opening in the front of thereservoir 38 against which is placed the nozzle plate 52 having a smallfine nozzle opening 54. To hold the plate against the housing, a cap 56is threaded to the nozzle housing.

A pump supplies water under pressure to the spray nozzle to cause it tocreate a fine intense spray and is shown generally at 58 submerged inthe reservoir. A supply pipe 60 leads from the pump to the nozzle and isthreaded into the housing 50 of the nozzle.

The pump has a main body portion 62 into which is threaded theconnecting pipe 60 and as water is delivered from the pump it passesthrough the passageway 64 in the pipe 60 past a check valve 66 to thenozzle.

The check valve 66 is supplied so that the pump will not on its suctionstroke draw in air through the nozzle. The check valve is of theconventional type having a ball 68 urged against a seat 70 by a spring72. When water is forced outwardly through the passageway 64 it opensthe valve against the action of the spring 72 but the valve closes whenthe pump is making its suction stroke.

An intake opening 74 is provided in the pump body 62 for intake of waterfrom the reservoir on the intake stroke. This opening 74 is open on theintake stroke of the pump and closed on the delivery stroke by a checkvalve which consists of a ball 76 gravitationally resting over theopening 74. A perforated plate 78 prevents the ball from being drawninto the main body of the pump on intake.

Centrally located in the body is a chamber 80 in which reciprocates thepump plunger 82. As the plunger moves up it draws water into the chamber80 through the opening 74 and as it moves down it forces water outwardlythrough the passageway 64 to cause it to be sprayed through the opening54 in the spray nozzle. The pump plunger is reciprocated rapidly toeffectively force water against the nozzle in a steady pressure andcause an even continuous spray.

For driving the pump a vibratory pump motor is provided shown generallyat 84. This m'otor consists of a coil 86 having a hollow center in whichmoves a reciprocating metal armature or core 88, the core beingconnected to the pump plunger 82. A pair of leads 90 lead from the coil86 to connect to the common electrical supply as represented by the cord18. The leads pass through a push button switch and these details willbe presented later in this description. When electricity flows in thecoil 86 in the form of a rapidly alternating current, the core 88vibrates to move the pump plunger 82 to operate the pump.

Since fiatirons are normally operated on house current, a 60 cyclecurrent will be impressed on the coil causing the core 88 to vibrate at120 cycles per second. The length of vertical reciprocation of the core88 is controlled by a control shaft 94, the lower end of which isengaged by an extension pin 96 on the core. As the control shaft 94 ismoved downwardly toward the extension pin 96, the distance which thecore 88 can vibrate is reduced and thus the vertical stroke of the pumpplunger 82 will be reduced. To suspend the metal core 88 in the centerof the coil 86 and aid its vibratory movement, a coil compression spring98 is situated beneath core 88. Another coil compression spring 100 ispositioned above the core between the core and the lower end of thecontrol shaft 94. The lower end 95 of the control shaft has acylindrical bore which receives and holds the second spring 100.

The electrical coil 86 which surrounds the core 88 is supported in ashell 102 which has a flange 104 resting on the shell 14 of the iron. Agasket 112 may be provided beneath the flange to prevent water fromleaking out of the reservoir.

This shell 102 projects downwardly into the reservoir space to besubmerged in water when the reservoir is filled. The shell also supportsa housing 114 around the coil and the lower end of the housing has around boss 115 which projects downwardly and has a threaded end forpurposes of supporting the body 62 of the pump.

It will thus be seen from the arrangement in the drawings that since thepump is secured directly to the housing of the coil that there isexcellent heat transmission therebetween. 'There is a considerableamount of heat generated by the coil during operation. This heat isproduced by electrical losses, such as the PR loss due to wireresistance and the eddy current losses in the particular coilconstruction. In the present case, the casing surrounding the coil isheld withina unit partially submerged in the water. Since this coil andcasing are mounted in a housing which is connected to a metal partsubmerged in the water a good part of the time, the arrangement willtend to keep the coil cool. Thus a more economical coil construction canbe used without danger of damage to the coil insulation by excessiveheat.

For adjusting the control shaft 94 its upper end is provided withthreads 116 which are threaded to the upper portion of the handle. Anadjustment knob 118, Figs. 1 and 2, is secured to the end of the controlshaft and has a raised index 120 and the knob can be rotated tocorrespond to the index marks 122 arranged around the knob.

To operate the iron alternately as a dry iron or as a spray iron or tocontrol the amount of spray produced, means are provided for completingthe circuit to the coil 86 at will. For this purpose it will be notedthat one of the leads 90 between the supply coil 18 and the vibratorymotor coil 86 passes through a push button switch having a pair ofswitch arms 124 and 126. The upper switch arm is flexible and carries apush button 128. It will be apparent that when the push button 128 isdepressed the contacts carried by the arms 124 and 126 will be closedcompleting the circuit to the coil 86 to thereby cause operation of thepump. Whenever the spray is to be discontinued the pressure may bereleased from the push button 128 causing the contacts to part and thepump to cease operation.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a combination spray and dryiron which is capable of saturating the material with a fine mist toobtain superior ironing and pressing action. The present iron avoids thenecessity of transforming the water into steam and the heat of the soleplate can therefore be more accurately regulated and adequate heat canbe obtained with smaller heating elements. The embodiment showing theprinciples of the present invention presents a compact, simple, easy tooperate iron which meets the objectives previously set forth and whichmay be readily and accurately handled and controlled.

I have, in the drawings and specification, presented a detaileddisclosure of the preferred embodiment of my invention. It is to beunderstood that the invention is susceptible of modifications,structural changes and various applications of use within the spirt andscope of the invention and I do not intend to limit the invention to thespecific form disclosed but intend to cover all modifications, changesand alternative constructions and methods falling within the scope ofthe principles taught by my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A combination spray and dry iron comprising a sole plate, anelectrical heating element associated therewith for heating the soleplate, electrical leads connected to common supply leads for supplyingelectricity to said heating element, a reservoir connected to the ironto supply fluid for a spray, a spray apparatus having an electricalpower driving means, electrical leads for the driving means connected tosaid common supply leads, a pump connected to the driving means andadapted to pump water from the reservoir, and a spray nozzle mounted onthe iron and connected to the pump to spray water on the material beingironed.

2. A combination spray and dry iron comprising a sole plate and anelectrical heating element associated therewith for heating the soleplate, a water reservoir mounted on the iron to supply fluid for thespray, a magnetic spray apparatus having a magnetic coil and areciprocating armature associated therewith, at least a portion of themagnetic coil being located within said reservoir so that the water ofthe reservoir will cool the coil, a pump connected to said armature andadapted to pump water from the reservoir, a spray nozzle mounted on theiron and connected to the pump to spray water on the material beingironed.

3. A combination spray and dry iron comprising a sole plate and anelectrical heating element associated therewith for heating the soleplate, a reservoir carried by the iron to supply a fluid for the spray,a magnetic spray apparatus having a magnetic coil and a reciprocatingcore associated therewith, a pump connected to the core and located inthe reservoir :and adapted to pump water from the reservoir, themagnetic coil mounted directly adjacent and connected to the immersedpump so that heat from the coil may be transmitted to the pump forcooling the coil, and a spray nozzle mounted on the iron and connectedto the pump to direct a fine spray of water on the material beingironed.

4. A combination spray and dry iron comprising a sole plate, a heatingelement associated therewith for heating the sole plate, a waterreservoir surmounting the sole plate and connected thereto forcontaining a supply of fluid to be sprayed on the material to be ironed,a magnetic pump having a magnetic coil and a reciprocating.

armature, a pump connected to the armature and submerged in thereservoir, a spray nozzle mounted on the reservoir and directeddownwardly toward the material being ironed, and a connecting lineleading through the reservoir wall to connect the submerged pump to thespray nozzle so that the liquid will be pumped from the reservoirthrough the nozzle to dampen the material being ironed.

5. A combination spray and dry iron comprising a sole plate, a heatingelement associated therewith for heating the sole plate, a waterreservoir surmounting the sole plate for supplying water for sprayingthe material being ironed, a handle secured to the water reservoir formanipulating the iron, a pump submerged in the reservoir for pumping thewater, a spray nozzle associated with the pump for directing a finespray onto the material, a magnetic spray device for operating the pumpincluding a magnetic coil and a core reciprocated by alternations in theelectricity supplied to the coil, an adjustment member projectingupwardly to the top of the handle and positioned to be engaged by thecore at one end of its reciprocating stroke, said adjustment memberadjustably mounted in the handle so that its position may be changed tocontrol the length of stroke of the core and an adjustment knobconnected to the adjustment member for manually adjusting the stroke ofthe core and controlling the spray of moisture.

6. A combination spray and dry iron comprising a sole plate and anelectrical heating element associated therewith for heating the soleplate, electrical leads connected to a common electrical supply forimpressing an electrical voltage on the heating element, a waterreservoir surmounting the sole plate to supply fluid for the spray, ahandle mounted on the reservoir for manually handling the iron, a pumpimmersed in the water of the reservoir, a nozzle associated therewithfor directing afine spray of water against the material being ironed, amagnetic motor connected to the pump including a driving armature and acoil, electrical leads running from the coil to said common supply, and:a normally open contact switch mounted on the handle and interruptingthe supply of current to the coil and movable to closed position by theoperator to selectively operate the pump to form a spray of water sothat the iron may be used as a spray iron.

7. A combination spray and dry iron comprising a sole plate, anelectrical heating element associated with the sole plate, a waterreservoir surmounting the sole plate for furnishing fluid for the spray,a nozzle mounted on the iron and directed toward the sole plate tofurnish a fine spray of water to the material, a pump supplying water tothe nozzle and including a pump plunger reciprocating in a pump chamber,an inlet passageway into said chamber, an outlet passageway connectingthe chamber to the said nozzle, a one way valve permitting passage ofthe water from the pump to the nozzle and preventing intake into thechamber through said outlet passageway, a second valve means in theinlet passageway adapted to permit water to flow from the reservoir tothe pump chamber but not in the reverse direction, a magnetic spraymotor comprising a magnetic coil and a reciprocating core vibrating inresponse to alternations in the electrical supply to the coil, adjustingmeans positioned in the path of the core and adjustable to control thelength of the stroke of the core to thereby control the operation of thepump and the amount of liquid sprayed from the nozzle.

8. A combination spray and dry iron comprising a sole plate, anelectrical heating element associated therewith for heating the soleplate, a water supply reservoir surmounting the sole plate in a positionto receive radiant heat therefrom, a handle for the iron positioned onthe water supply reservoir, a magnetic pump having a portion immersed inthe reservoir to pump water therefrom, a spray nozzle positioned at thefront of the iron to direct a fine spray at the material being ironed,and a connecting passageway conducting the water from the pump to thenozzle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,180,523 'Horton Nov. 21, 1939 2,293,386 Fitzgerald Aug. 18, 19422,410,692 Strobell Nov. 5, 1946 2,648,017 Ziherl Aug. 4, 1953

